Brianna Ghey was at risk of sexual exploitation, inquest hears

The murdered transgender teenager, 16, had thousands of followers on TikTok and YouTube, where she posted video content about make-up, hairdressing and dancing, Warrington Coroner’s Court heard.

Before her murder concerns had been raised about her interactions online but she had refused to let her mother have access to her phone and her school could not take the device off her either, the hearing was told.

Brianna, 16, was lured to Culcheth Linear Park by classmate Scarlett Jenkinson and her friend Eddie Ratcliffe, both 15 at the time, where she was stabbed 28 times with a hunting knife on February 11 last year.

From age 14, Jenkinson had enjoyed watching videos of real killing and torture on the dark web, fantasised about murder and developed an interest in serial killers.

The murder trial heard the “frenzied” and “brutal” murder had elements of sadism, with a secondary motive being the victim’s trans identity. Both killers were jailed for life.

Brianna’s inquest heard she had been diagnosed with ADHD and autism, had self-harmed and struggled with anxiety and an eating disorder.

Her school, Birchwood High, became aware she was involved in online groups promoting eating disorders and self-harm, but she refused to engage with internet safety advice.

Her mother, Esther Ghey, expressed concern about her welfare and safety, in particular her social media engagement and the length of time she was spending online.

But despite being offered help, Brianna again struggled to engage with any support services, the inquest heard.

She had thousands of followers on TikTok and YouTube but would not allow her mother to access her phone and would rarely put it down as it was always on her person.

In December of 2022 a panel meeting of school and other professionals deemed her to be at “medium risk” of child sexual exploitation.

Fiona Cowan, head of children’s safeguarding at Warrington Council, said the local authority or school could not force children to engage with help services and Brianna’s social worker was trying to work with her and having “conversations” around her use of TikTok and social media.

Jacqueline Devonish, senior coroner for Cheshire, asked about concerns around Brianna’s phone use and if the school could have taken her phone from her.

Ms Cowan said: “It would be down to the parents, as a local authority we don’t have responsibility to allow us to remove a phone.”

Ms Cowan said she had known police to remove a child’s phone if they believed a child to be at risk.

The inquest heard shortly before her murder Brianna had refused to come into school and a meeting was held with school heads and her grandmother, Marion Ghey, on February 7 last year.

It was to discuss her “unacceptable conduct” including her use of a mobile phone in school and “challenging behaviour” including disrespect towards staff and the length of her skirt, which she kept rolling up to make shorter.

Brianna “did not react well” in the meeting, was rude, said school rules were “ridiculous”, would not comply and would not be coming back to school.

Her grandmother thanked school staff and apologised for Brianna’s behaviour.

Ms Cowan said a safeguarding review of the case concluded, despite Jenkinson’s involvement with taking cannabis into both her schools, no one could reasonably have foreseen she would go on to commit murder.

The authorities did not know about Jenkinson’s fascination with violence or that she was using the dark web to feed her violent fantasies and there was no evidence of any “gaps” in the school and council’s work which led to the murder.

Esther Ghey is now campaigning to raise awareness of the dangers of social media to children and for greater parental controls to be put in place.

The inquest is scheduled to conclude later on Friday.